Exploring the relationship between gestural recognition and imitation: evidence of dyspraxia in autism spectrum disorders.
Kids with autism can know a gesture yet still fail to copy it, so check both skills and adjust prompts.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hermans et al. (2011) compared kids with autism to typically developing peers. They tested two skills: recognizing a gesture and copying that same gesture. The team kept working memory the same for both groups so it would not cloud the results.
What they found
The autism group scored lower on both gesture recognition and gesture imitation. Even when kids with autism knew what the gesture was, they still struggled to do it themselves. This points to a motor-planning issue, not just a memory problem.
How this fits with other research
Eussen et al. (2016) extends the finding by showing the deficit shows up mainly when adults ask for the gesture. Spontaneous copying stays near typical levels, so test type matters.
McAuliffe et al. (2017) digs deeper: kids with autism fall apart when they must move several body parts at once. Breaking moves into one-step chunks helps.
Whitehouse et al. (2014) looks like a contradiction. They found no autism-specific imitation gap when the task pulled object movement away from body movement. Different task design explains the clash: Heidi used free-hand gestures, M et al. used object cues that guide the hand.
Why it matters
Do not assume a child who waves back understands how to wave. Check both recognition and performance. If the child fails, try single-step prompts, slow demo speed, or add an object prop. These tweaks honor the dyspraxia shown in Heidi et al. and supported by later work.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In this study, the relationship between gesture recognition and imitation was explored. Nineteen individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were compared to a control group of 23 typically developing children on their ability to imitate and recognize three gesture types (transitive, intransitive, and pantomimes). The ASD group performed more poorly than controls on all tasks of recognition and imitation. Higher performance on tests of working memory was associated with increased odds of successful imitation in both groups. Group differences remained even when working memory was statistically controlled for. An association was revealed in the ASD group between pantomime recognition and imitation but a similar association was not identified for intransitive gestures suggesting that recognition alone is not sufficient for imitation success.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2011 · doi:10.1007/s10803-010-1011-1